In Crete, a true magic happened. By meeting Korina Miliaraki, we got the chance to learn about the great value of carob trees, which they are willing to share with us.

Thanks to Korina and a network of farmers and experts who are actively promoting, growing, breeding and cultivating them, carob trees are “coming back“ and bringing good to our common future. We visited Korinna’s friends, “carob activists“, old carob trees, and a carob forest in southern Crete. It became obvious there that carob trees don't need much water to grow and bear fruit, which can be eaten right off the tree. Carob trees can live for over 1000 years old and regenerate in a similar way to the olive tree.

I hated school. I didn't feel good. I always felt that I was outside the system, the education system. First I wanted to be an acrobat, then I decided to be a minister of education. When our teacher asked us what we wanted to be when I was six or seven, I said Minister of Education. And she asked me, "Why, my child, do you want to be..." and I said, "Because I want to close all the schools and make the next generation not suffer from this system, the school, than we have now."

So I decided to come and work with him and to decide what to do, to see. It's like giving yourself an exam, because you always have to come back to your place to see exactly who you are, after a period of travelling, learning, doubting. And then you have to come to a new battle with yourself.To decide who you are after all these experiences. And I came here and I worked with him. And then through that I decided exactly what I wanted. So that's why I came there. I found my centre.

Part of the vision is to create the carob mill and, through the carobs and our efforts for the return of the carob, to become the reference point of Mediterranean Europe for the carob. To bring together all the countries of Mediterranean Europe for the return of the carob, to give it more value. I would love to create here a carob foundation for culture, gastronomy and research. And to have a festival here every year.

To develop a cultivation on the island, and not only on the island, but on the island because we're here, by giving the farmers the motivation and also helping them in their search, giving them the right information on how to cultivate, the right way to cultivate, what kind of carob tree would be right, and also giving them the motivation to create new products of food and whatever.

About "equality"

In order to survive, we human beings have to be serious and understand that we don't have differences, we're all human beings and we have to live equally on this planet, and we have respect the environment.

We have the same rights everywhere. And to stop all this moving of the population because of wars. So maybe you'll say that I'm a romantic but I'm very practical, very realistic.

 And in this effort the carob tree is going to help us, and I know it.

I'm trying to do my best and I don't have, as you put it, any expectations - "So I'm trying to do this so that tomorrow I'll have this result, otherwise I'm not doing anything..." I've been doing this all my life: trying, trying, trying, trying, because there's no other way. And if something good happens, I'll be happy. If not, I'll still try my best.

Kostas Karatzis is the great success story of Korina's dream to bring back the carobs tree. Kostas lives alone, but his enthusiasm, positive attitude and exceptional results are a great role model for others to learn and plant carob trees in Crete. He works for 10 and also makes products from carob - carob syrup (the best in Crete) and carob brandy. 

Corina on carob syrup: "My mother takes one spoon every day, every morning. This is medicine. And for me it's very important, because this carob syrup is not just made from carob pods, it's made from the whole carob and the seeds. The seeds have proteins.

Kostas produces all the food himself - from olive oil, vegetables, fruit, cheese, dried fruit to wine... And when he has the chance to host someone as he hosted us... A magical experience!

Something about the carob. AsI was trying to find out more and more (I'm always searching), I found a rabbi from 300 AD. He was living in Palestine. He lived in Palestine. So he was walking down the street and he saw somebody planting a new carob tree, a very small one, and he asked him, "Why are you trying to do this, do you think you're going to live so many years to eat from this carob tree?" and the man replied, "No, because I'm taking the carobs from another tree that my ancestors planted for me," and he said, "OK," and he walked away. And after a while the light was very strong, he didn't go into a cave, he sat on a rock, he slept, and then he returned. And on his way back he saw in the same place a huge carob tree full of carobs and somebody who was picking the carobs. And he said, ”Hey you, are you the one who planted this tree,” and the man said, ”No, no, no, my ancestors did it for me,” and he realised that 54 years had passed while he was sleeping. So I went crazy when I found it,  and then this rabbi, Honi HaMe'agel is his name, in another place, in Palestine, it has to do with carobs this time. I don't know, there's a connection.

The Portuguese have a saying: ”Plant an olive tree for your children and a carob tree for your grandchildren."

more > CAROB TREE PHYSIOLOGY: GROWTH AND REPRODUCTION BIOLOGY

Manolis Loukakis, a professor of agronomy, an expert in breeding, teaching, a great connoisseur of carobs, species suitable for planting and grafting trees, and of Crete.

Nobody knows, I could say, because sometimes, even if something looks very dark or very pessimistic, there are moments, but everything can be changed, so we have to try. And if we're lucky in our lifetime to see a difference, to see this revolution that I believe in, there are moments, but even the environment and human beings together, we can change everything. I don't know if I'll be so lucky to see it, but I can tell you that I've seen it, in moments on a small scale. So if I have this experience of seeing it in moments, that means it can be done, so in that way I am an optimist, but I don't know if I will see it in my lifetime. Everything is possible. Even what we think is impossible now can be possible. But it can only be possible if some people are in the same line, find a way to connect with each other and have the same purpose, the same goal. And even unconsciously, to have the same way, without knowing it, but knowing it, if you understand. Even unconsciously, because there is a social unconsciousness that moves things.

Manos Babionitakis, an inventor of the carob milling machine. Before him there was no one in Crete to process carobs into 100% carob flower, which was vital for all the carob crops. 

We are all the same, made of the same material. It's all clear to me. There are no differences. From north to south, west to east, we're all human beings. White, yellow, I don't know what...

>> next steps – carob trees

 I have a feeling it's going to save us again. This time in a different way. When I have a dialogue with a carob tree, it has too many secrets and I ask it. "What are your secrets?" I'm going to find out what they are.

The virgin carob forest in Southeren Crete grows where no other plants can grow. The trees are old, but still small, and they regenerate naturally.

Olive trees, carob trees... I love them both, but carob is the symbol of survival, against everything, all the extreme conditions. And that is more important to me. And you can't survive on olives, but you can survive on carobs. To survive with olives, we have to make olive oil, we have to have a process, but carob gives you directly what you need, that's why it saved a population. But yes, this is fire again, preventing fire. A lot of places would burn... It helps the soil to be stronger. I don't know, it's magic. It's something that nature created, it gives us this and I'm so excited about it. I feel it's my duty to do everything I can for it. I feel that way because it's a tree that nobody looks at, nobody focuses on, and I have to show everybody that it's so important. The most important tree.

It is a symbol of survival.

In Crete, a true magic happened. By meeting Korina Miliaraki, we got a chance to learn about the great value of carob trees, which they are willing to share with us.

Thanks to Korina and a network of farmers and experts who actively promote, grow, breed and farm it, the carob tree is “coming back“ and bringing good to our common future. We visited Korinna’s friends, “carob activists“, old carob trees, and a carob forest in southern Crete. It became obvious there, that carob tree doesn't need much water to grow and bear fruits which can be eaten directly from the tree. Carob trees can be over 1000 years old and regenerate similar to the olive tree.

I hated school. I didn't feel good. I was always feeling like I was outside the system, the education system. At first, I wanted to be an acrobat, then I decided to be the minister of education. When our teacher when I was six or seven asked us what we wanted to be I said minister of education. And she asked me ”Why, my child, do you want to be...” and I said – ”Because I want to close all the schools and make the next generation not suffer from this system, the school than we now have”.

So, I decided to come and work with him and to decide what to do, to see. It is like giving exams to yourself, because you always must return to your place to see exactly who you are, after a period when you're traveling, you're learning, you're doubting. And then you must come to have a new battle with yourself. To decide who you are after all these experiences. And I came here, and I worked with him. And then I decided through this what exactly I wanted. So that's why I came to (). I found my center.

Part of the vision is to create the carob mill and create through the carobs and our efforts for the coming back of the carob to be a reference point of Mediterranean Europe for the carob. Connecting all the countries of the Mediterranean Europe for the coming back of the carob, giving it more value. I would love to create here a carob foundation for culture, gastronomy and research. And every year to have a festival with festival here.

To develop a cultivation on the island and not only on the island, but on the island because we're here, by giving the motives to the farmers and also help them through their searches, giving them the right information how to cultivate, the right way to cultivate and which type of carob tree would be right and give them also the motives to create new products of food and whatever.

(about ”equally”)

         In order to survive, the human beings, we have to be serious and to understand that we don't have differences, we're all human beings and we must live equally on this planet, and we must respect the environment.

       We have the same rights everywhere. And to stop all this moving of the population because of the wars. So maybe you're going to tell me that I'm a romantic but I'm very practical, very realist.

        And in this effort the carob tree is going to help us, and I know it.

 I'm trying to do my best and I don't have, in a way that you put it, expectations – ”So I'm trying to do this so tomorrow I'm going to have this result, otherwise I don't do anything...” – no. My whole life I'm doing this: I'm trying, trying, trying, trying, because there is no other way. And if something good is going to happen, I'll be happy. If not, I'll still try to do my best.

Kostas Karatzis is big sucess story of Korinas dreams to bring carobs back. Kostas lives alone but his inthusiasem, positive atitude and ekscetional results are a great rool model for others to learn and plant carob trees on Kreta. Alone he does work for 10, also doing products from carob- carob syrup (best in Kreata) and carob brandy 

Corina, about carob syrup. My mother takes one spoon every day, every morning. This is medicine. 

And for me it's very important, because this carob syrup is made not only with the carob (fruit?), it's made by all the carob and the seeds. The seeds have proteins.

All food from olive oil, vegetables, fruits chees, dry fruts, vine.. he produce himself- and if Kostas has a chance to host somebody as he hosted us ..a magic experiance !

Something about the carob. While I was trying to find out more and more things, I'm always searching, I found a rabbi of the 300 years after Christ. He was living in Palestine. So, he was walking in the street and he saw somebody planting a new Carob tree, a very small one, and he asked him ”Why are you trying to do this, you think you're going to live so many years to be feeding from this carob tree”, and the man answered ”No, because I'm taking the carobs of another tree that my ancestors have planted for me” and he said ”Ok” and he left. And after a while the light was very strong, he didn't go to a cave, but he sat on a rock, he slept, and then he returned. And on the way back he saw in the same place a huge carob tree full of carobs and somebody who was picking the carobs. And he said, ”Hey you, are you the same who planted this tree” and the man said ”No, no, no, my ancestors did it for me” and he realized that 54 years passed during his sleep. So, I got crazy when I found it, because, first () for another reason and then this rabbi, Honi HaMe'agel is his name, in a different place, in Palestine, it has to do with carobs this time. I don't know, there is a connection.

7 years. For the first, double of the olive tree. Olive tree- less years. That's why the Portuguese have a saying, ”Plant an olive tree for your children and a carob tree for your grandchildren”.

more>CAROB TREE PHYSIOLOGY: GROWTH AND REPRODUCTION BIOLOGY

Manolis Loukakis  a profesor of agronomy, an expert for breeding , teaching a great connoisseur of carobs, species suitable for planting and grafting trees and Crete

...nobody knows, I could say, because sometimes, even if something looks very dark or very pessimistic, there are moments, but everything can be changed, so we have to try. And if we're lucky in our lifetime to see a difference, to see this revolution that I believe in, there are moments, but even the environment and human beings together, we can change everything. I don't know if I'll be so lucky to see it, but I can tell you that I've seen it, in moments in a small scale. So, if I have this experience to see it in moments, that means that it can be done, so in this way I'm an optimist, but I don't know if in my lifetime I will see it. Everything can be done. Even the what now we think that is impossible, it can be possible. But it can be possible only if some people will be in the same line, will find a way to connect with each other and to have the same purpose, the same goal. And even unconsciously, to have the same way, without knowing it, but knowing it, if you understand. Even unconsciously, because there is a social unconsciousness that moves the thing.

Manos Babionitakis: an inventor of carob mill machine , before him there was nobady to proces carobs into 100% carob flower in Creta, wital for all that crop carob 

 We are all the same, from the same material. It's all clear to me. There are no differences. From the north to the south, to the west, to the east, we're all human beings. Whites, yellows, I don't know what...

>> next steps – carob trees

 I have a feeling that it's going to save us again. In a different way this time. If I have a dialog with a carob tree, it has too many secrets, and I'm asking it. ”What are your secrets?” I'll find out what they are.

virgine carob forest in Southeren Crete grows where no other plants can exist They are old trees, never the less small and regenarate here by nature. 

Olive trees, Carob trees..I love both of them, but carob is the symbol of survival, against everything, all the extreme conditions. And this is for me more important. And you can't survive eating olives, you can survive eating carobs. In order to survive with olives,  we have to make olive oil, we have to have a process, but the other one gives you directly what you need, that's why it saved a population. But yeah, this is again fire, preventing the fire. Many places would get burned..., it helps the soil to be stronger. I don't know it's magic. It's something the nature created, it gives us that way and I'm so enthusiastic about it. I'm feeling that I have a duty to do whatever I can for this. I feel like that, because it's a tree that nobody looks at it, focuses on and I have to show everybody that it's so important. The most important tree.

It is a symbol of survival.

Enter your text here...

 ..goving over the sea never repets 

The times in which we are living is...MEDLand project is...

In Between

The engine, the heartbeat of Nalu was handover to Drago..in Sučoraj, just 60km from Nalu home port but long enough to traveland meet Nikša, the archeologist from Sučuraj* and stop at the stone circle-new land art structure on Hvar island : 

The times in which we are living is; 

In Between

MEDLand project is;

In Between

The engine, the heartbeat of Nalu is also; 

In Between

HOW come? A dear friend, Japec Jakopin, who has cared of the Medland project's well-being from the very start; originally as a board/team member, defining the 'why, who, how, when & for whom' this project is aimed – and continuously helping to maintain Nalu – has donated her a truly prima boat engine. 

Without Japec and many others, this project would just exist on paper, and not in the water, crossing long distances over the sea to MED islands with Nalu.

Ivana Petan(the author of the story),

actively participated in the project many times and in many ways, from the very beginning and even before, helping to restore the boat, Nalu, that we are now using. She is a member of the core team. She expresses her creativity mainly in the form of ceramic art works, as well as with geomancy stone installations group projects.

As an artist, she participated in three MedLand-related exhibitions (1,2,3). As an expert in geomancy, she did her part in the story: a discourse with the island of Ikaria. On our 2021 trip, she did the entire observation of the places we visited. Her observations have left a strong mark, since so much is changing in the way we experience and bring into awareness our relations, especially with the land. The title of the project (MedLand) is about the land – the potential of the land, small or big, or the entire Mediterranean that changes through periods, along with our perceptions and relations with all other conscious life. Ivana's interactions go beyond, like looking behind the curtain :-)) 

Ivana Petan & BBimages

The present writing is a trace of this years' MedLand project. Visits to the agro-agriculture project Southern Lights in the Peloponnese, Zlatka, a Slovenian who has lived in the western part of Crete for more than 30 years and grows olive trees, and meeting a Cretan initiative for the revival of the importance of the carob tree were pre-planned. All other stops on the way connected the path into a semantic whole. The focus of this writing is not primarily on people, but rather on the natural space, seen and experienced through the eyes of geomancy. Natural space is fundamentally a free space; without names, borders, properties, coats of arms and flags, with its roots in the connection of different beings, forms, memories, wisdom, impulses, which with their unique breath co-create the harmony of life, approaching and distancing, with change as the only constant. In addition to visible physical materiality, nature also has its invisible energetic face: conscious beings who become visible through heart communication and intuition.

However, before entering the Aegean Sea, rises another passage: the Peloponnese peninsula. A vast space of different landscapes and qualities. Although I have always respected it very much, it was only now that I slowly began to become aware of not only its width and height but also its depth. It proved to me to be the centre of the life energy of the entire Mediterranean. The Peloponnese being led me into its underworld that glows golden. Its core carries a balancing organ that appeared to me as a globe-shaped organ, incessantly dancing left-right, up-down, actively bringing and maintaining vital energy needed for power harmonization of the space, perpetually in motion. However, I sensed the blockage in the upward passage by a metal plate, and as a result, there is no cosmic impulse to cooperate with Gaia. Therefore, a balance organ is stopped in its motion, standing frozen and forgotten, speaking of forgetfulness of the crucial importance of natural space for human life, of their interdependence. Simultaneously, it awakens thinking about ways of active human change and establishing a new balance on the wings of cooperation and connection with nature, which enables respectful life of all human and nonhuman beings. I disconnected the plate and sent it into transformation into Gaia and performed a Tear of Grace for the Peloponnese. Like acid rain, a tear began to melt the metal plate. In its place, an empty white space opened up as the quality of a white goddess; of the new wholes ready to enter the red creative goddess phase.

The westernmost Greek island is Othonoi. I see it in the shape of a small dragon with its head facing southeast. It appeared to my senses as an island of joy and permission to live. I experienced it as a space of powerful impulse for the new: when old ways of life are left behind, the opportunity for new ways of understanding, communicating, acting opens up. Othonoi is sending us a message that it is possible to come into contact with the possibilities of new possibilities of dwelling and consequently to see and realize the (not-yet-embodied) potentials.

As a symbol of the quality of the island, a being with arms outstretched towards the sky (as an inverted symbol of peace or a tree) appeared in my vision.

The symbol of the quality for the whole of islands Paxos and Anti Paxos, which were next islands along our way, appeared to me in the form of a rhombus. With its sides, the rhombus opens a space of individual inner rest, of gathering within, introverted activity inside, which leads to the cleansing of outdated patterns, the clarification of desires and the formation of the intention-direction of life. As an earthquake of the inner world that gives birth to a new view, a new vision of the outer world and own individual role in it, preparing for a new path, a new cycle, and pointing to the natural rhythm of endless spiritual maturation.

The shape of the islands remain incomprehensible to me for now.

Zakynthos island awakened a range of emotions in me: from the confinement, impermeability and compression in a bag of consumerism and tourism, disconnection from the depths of the earth and the height of the sky, breathing hard due to the prevailing male principle and abuse of natural space, to the sincere contact with joyful nature in the interior of the island. In the centre of the valley in the island's middle, I sensed a spiral rising into the sky, energetically charged by four surrounding places on four sides of the island. It is strongly rising high in the sky but lacks grounding. The form of the island appeared to me as a being walking forward and looking back. And the quality of the island I recognized as knowledge to incorporate the ancestral wisdom into the present and keep it for descendants.

In the vast olive grove of a friend Dimitris Therianos(update21:film by Ida Glušič), I felt the joy and love of its cultivation. Each olive tree is connected invisibly with all others as a part of the whole, the last showing to me as the respiration system of one organism. Connecting with them, I felt the olive tree as a female tree and saw its unique feature: the olives dance! The old olive tree we last visited showed itself imbued with many times and periods. It radiated a particular mysticism, arousing awe. I experienced it as an archetype of ancestors, as a silent sage that regulates the life of an olive grove.

As a symbol of the quality of Zakynthos, a circle inside a rhombus appeared to me.

The Peloponnese peninsula has shown to me in the shape of a being with a tail that faces west, bringing in an energetic influence from the East. I felt it played the role of the centre of (primordial) life force (hara) in the Mediterranean, sending it into the wholeness through the “tail, legs and arms”. When I visualized myself in the middle of the Peloponnese, I felt strong forces from all sides, as if I were standing on a big draft, at the centre of an imbalance. It took a lot of effort to manage standing up straight. When I asked the Peloponnese about its readiness for the “new”, it was confused, perhaps even frightened, as it could not relate to the meaning of my question. Then Demeter appeared. She ritually outlined a circle around herself on the ground with the stick and hit hard in its middle. A strong spring rose from it and began to rain on the Peloponnese. Is this rain a message about the growth potential of something new?

In the village of Koroni, the feeling and view of the place and the port speaks to me of chaos, disorder, inaccessibility, loss of identity. I feel her ignorance of current changes in space and potentially new ways of living even more strongly than in Pylos.

As a symbol of the quality of the village, a spiral from earth to sky appeared to me.

I feel the primary energy potential of the left foot of the Peloponnese (1st toe of the Peloponnese) in the opening from the earth to the sky. Here, Gaia messages and qualities are brought into the light. However, this flow is being obstructed by poor grounding. Space is not present in the actual moment but stays in its closed world, with the heavy energies of struggle, fear and lack of freedom from the past. The space sleeps.

I feel the cape of the tail of the Peloponnese (2nd toe of the Peloponnese) as an energy pillar that expands horizontally into the environment and thus connects, collects and balances the qualities of two neighbouring capes of the Peloponnese (left and right feet of the Peloponnese). The presence of the element of air is strong, and here, for the first time since my arrival in Greece, I feel the imposing, breathtaking power of the rocks - compared to the left leg of the Peloponnese, I feel here in its tail much more primal strength.

This space is a space of a dragon of air. Along with this quality which is an aspect of the primordial strengths of Gaia, this space also breathes with the cosmos, with spiritual guidance and the influx of new possibilities of incarnations.

In the village of Porto Kagyo (on the right side of the tail of the Peloponnese - 2nd finger of the Peloponnese, we find the chapel of St. Nicholas. I read his gesture of the crossed upward index and middle fingers, and under the latter connected to the thumb and fourth finger, depicted on all the icons, as the wisdom of the embodiment of one's spiritual potential. Balancing one's fire and water quality brings the realization of spiritual potential (connection of thumb and earth quality).

As a symbol of Porto Kagyo quality, I saw a thread that descends from heaven to earth, here fertilizes with the message of incarnation, and returns to the cosmos in an arc, gifting the cosmos with new information (a new record in Akasha).

As a symbol of Gytheio quality, I saw a spiral extending horizontally into space.

Near Gytheio is the village of Skala. In its nearness, we visited the Southern Lights, an agro-farming project. I felt their collaboration with plants as an attitude of respect for the earth. I felt the plants in their freedom, joy, contentment. They form a golden ray net that opens into space and sends out new information. The place is grounded, with Gaia and Pan participating.

I felt the impulse from the cosmos in the space of the Southern Lights project is weaker. It might be due to poor free-flowing energy, perhaps because the community rules restrict the freedom of life choices of the participants. I strongly feel the potential for developing new ways of working with plants - plants with plants and people with plants. However, its realization requires the development of individual responsible freedom that supports, preserves and enriches the well-being of the whole - in the relationship between the community people. Only as free and horizontally distributed does the energy for embodying the new have free flow at all levels.

At the entrance to the Southern Lights project grows an old eucalyptus tree. As a key, I received a purse with gold coins there, representing the potential of the project to enrich the world with knowledge about the coexistence of man and nature, to bring new and upgrade old knowledge into a different, for this time relevant whole. The realization of this depends on the freedom of creativity, on one side for nature, on the other side for community members who, by making their own decisions, cocreate with their unique contribution.

The Southern Lights project embodies the primary potential of the Peloponnese region: agro-agriculture as an intuitive exploration into the ways of encouraging forest creation by planting and combining plants grows out of respect for nature and connection with spiritual guidance embodied in new ideas of connecting and collaborating with nature. Thus, it is possible to create a new whole (white goddess) for further co-creation.

Also, we visited the land of the emerging farm of Panos and Kali, active members of the Southern Lights project. At the site of the emerging plantation, I saw a tree of life growing, and at the site of a future living-house, I felt a strong presence of the element of water.

I felt the connection of both lands with the energy threads.

Kayres village lies in the interior of the Peloponnese, at the foot of Mount Parnon at an altitude of 950m. From the Karyes name was born the name Kayratide (translation: young girls from Karyes), which originally meant local priestess dancers who every year danced a local ritual dance in honour of Artemide Karyatide. Later, this name came into use for all female sculpture supporting pillars (the most notable is Erectus on the Acropolis).

I felt Kayres as a yin area with feminine quality. We visited 2500-year-old plane trees, strong earthly giants and at the same time ethereal ones, as if invisibly touching the sky. In addition to the wisdom they carry, Ent also conveyed me their grief over neglect and forgetfulness from the people. The reason for this cessation of the coexistence of man and nature, the plane trees whispered to me, is the predominance of reason and its non-recognition of nature as a conscious being.

In front of the plane trees is the spring where the temple of Artemis once stood. I felt space as a strong golden pillar of energy connecting earth and sky.

Energetically, I experienced the right foot of the Peloponnese (3rd toe of the Peloponnese) as connected to the cosmos and the element of air. On its cape, there is the village of Profitis Illias. I experienced it as a peaceful and pure village, in harmony and silence. This silence was too quiet, communicating not of living in peace, but of sleep and isolation, of living in its rhythm and time, far removed from world reality. Here, again, I met a space that sleeps and knows nothing about the “new”.

Behind the village, there is a dragon-shaped mountain, rising boldly to the sky with its buttocks in the sea.

As a symbol of the quality of Profitis Illias, I saw a spiral descending from heaven to earth.

During our sailing to Crete, I first connected with the Peloponnese: the being of the Peloponnese thanked us and greeted us with an invitation to return. Demeter of the Peloponnese blessed us and sent us golden wheat. I then connected with Crete and felt the presence of Minoan culture and the culture of the (Neolithic) goddess.

Dear friend Zlatka, who hosted us for a few days, opened some exceptional natural spaces for us.           story about Zlatka 

Mouri is a village closest to a natural place called Island (Nisi) - its name comes from the fact that it is impossible to get anywhere from it, as there is a mountain on one side and a canyon on the other. I felt Island as a space unrelated to the notion of time we know; he lives in timelessness/omnipresence.

At the entrance to the place, there are ruins of a church, full of frescoes inside. From one of its remaining walls now grows an old carob tree. I felt the place as a place of Sofia/Christ presence, more precisely, as a place of meeting Sofia/Christ in oneself - with the potential of love, forgiveness and compassion for oneself. 

Every new experience of Crete was slowly disclosing it to me as a place connected to roots and ancestors and at the same time connected to the cosmos. Translated to the human body, this speaks of the connection between hara (life force) and the heart (spiritual perception). This connection awakens the potential of passionate creation and living one’s truth, not forgetting the wisdom and knowledge of the past.

At one point, connecting with a being of Crete ignited a spark in my heart. At the same time, however, I felt pressure from above that prevented the spark from glowing into the embodiment. I intuitively connected it with the (rational) existential fear, which many people solve today by ceasing traditional (self-sufficient) ways of care, focusing on owning material things, consumerism and finding a comfortable life. This possession-based life approach has revealed to me as restricting the free life flow, and as a way that closes the heart to free intuitive experiences.

Above village Melidoxori (Melidochori) in a Heraklion region lives Kostas, a master grafter of carob trees. The space of his farm and the surrounding landscape is like a vessel in which the sun is bathing. Here, heaven and earth kiss and procreate. It is a powerful yin space of abundance and prosperity that gives, gives, gives. This landscape is the womb in a different sense than the place of Komolithi in western Crete: it is the granary of Crete, where Gaia openly gives herself to all beings and thus ensures their lives.

Here again, I experienced the carob as a tree with sun fruits, as food fertilizing life with the life energy of the sun, awakening the life force. Carob is like a mother: independent, self-sufficient, with the knowledge and strength to survive without additional watering, caring for others and making immediate friendships. Carob thrives in different soil types, protects the soil from erosion, can survive on winter amount of rain and protects the space from fire.

In addition to carob trees, Kostas’ farm also includes old black oak trees that grow around the estate. They complement each other energetically: carob as yin and black oak as yang. I saw the black oaks sending energy threads to the carob trees, thus connecting and grounding them into the holon of the space.

On Kostas’ holon, there is also a big rock with dragon quality. Eagles, sunbirds, nest there. This quality of eagle also lives in Kostas. Likewise, the sun of Gaia is vibrating in the joyful, passionate, sincere, unobstructed way of Kosts’ communication, speech, attitude and response to the trees and garden, and not to forget, even in his deep need for abundant hospitality and gifts to visitors. He is embodying this unconditional giving quality that is born in this landscape.

We crossed part of eastern Crete, the Lasithi region and part of central Crete, the Heraklion region, went past Agios Nikolaos, then along the local road from Elounda to Naples and finally towards the village of Tris Ekklisies (Three Churches) in the southern part of Crete. Landscapes opened up to me in the power of the elemental world and Sidhe.

Not far from the village Tris Ekklisies we visited an old carob forest, unique in the Mediterranean. In this dry and rocky landscape, I felt that the carob loves solitude, does not long for visitors. Even without the latter, it is present, complete and self-sufficient. Here I strongly felt Sidhe living next to people in their invisible reality of a parallel world. Hidden, they are waiting for the awakening of people, for their realization of nature as a conscious being ready to participate in co-creation.

On the way back from Crete to the Peloponnese, we stayed overnight on the island between them, Kythira. I felt it as an island of hospitality, tolerance, peace and lightness between the two powerful spaces of the Peloponnese and Crete. A being of the island appeared to me like a woman spinning with open arms, happy, content, smiling, reconciled to herself and all that is; integrating and caring for every being that comes along.

As a symbol of the quality of Kythira, sea waves appeared to me.

The coexistence of natural space with people and people with people, seen and felt on this Greek trip, was often opposite of the latter. I felt the absence of integration replaced by fencing and isolating identities without being aware of the need for connection and cooperation. Above all, bare rational conception and action have once again proved to be the general activator of human oblivion of the natural (organic) way of coexistence lived by the plant world. View on monocultural cultivation of olives, planted geometrically in flat rows in an otherwise varied Cretan landscape, felt strongly unnatural. Trees of almond, carob, citrus fruit and other variety that once had their place among olive ones, have long been cut down. An experience of seeing monoculture olive groves, in reality, showed me the consequences of human recourse to primary rationality. The accumulation of individual property and the restriction of the free flow of energies at all levels causes instead of trust only reign of fear, instead of a varied and unmanageable horizon just a pure and monotonous vertical visibility.

Visited Greek islands mostly live and function as closed worlds. At the beginning of our journey, the inner seeing of the sea space of the Mediterranean, where we intended to sail, was revealed to me as connected with golden threads, which - as I can conclude now - remain hidden and unlived. Isolated - both spaces and people - thus lose the possibility of connecting into mutually supporting waves of a unique rhythm of exchanging experiences and creating something synergistically larger. And, does not the current state of the world encourage us to make such changes? 

This non-recognition of the whole, which is created by connecting different approaches, ideas and professions, I experience as an obstacle for opening new individual paths of understanding and working into the highest good of the whole, which means the highest best of each of its parts in its uniqueness.

The path I see is a balance of heart and mind in their authentic qualities and roles, offering humans a friendship and cooperation with nature, with Mother Gaia. I experience Gaia as already transforming and inviting people to recognize her by deviating from the old understanding of the world. Should we join her with confidence on the way to the new, despite not knowing what and how it will be? Human ignorance has no power to stop Gaia's changes, but it prevents them from seeing them and establishing an inner relationship with them.

The theme I was longing for on our long trip back to our home port in the Adriatic was to observe, experience and communicate with elements, like waves, streams, winds ...

She always inspires me! What she did and how she lives now on her farm, full of experiments, will be in the upcoming update of her story.

North of Othonoi, we had to wait again, but it was a must-stop anyway to meet Yiannis Katehis (MED Land story) , who also  became a harbor master, apart from being the vice president of three islands. He is a hyperactive activist and a never-ending inspiration for me. My brother, I could say ... He spent with us one wonderful day, in his studio, with his mother serving us the best pasta and with long, great conversations that we had in a coffee shop. The update will tell more! 

All in all, the trip was intensive, but also very inspiring . The key for this experience was that Iva, who NEVER EVER did a sailing trip before, was completely “in” all the time, happy, relaxed and reliable to do anything that was needed, including taking over the rudder under the sails for many hours. She was happy being on this trip, so I could be in tune with what was going on and relaxed, even when I was wet, cold and tired. In this way, the true wave that was taking us over was being at the right place at the right time and meet “good” heartful people who were really helpful and touched my heart deeply. The landing on Korčula was a welcome story for as again: the marina stuff did not charge us, and the police and custom registration process upon arrival to Croatia was very relaxed.

We did miss 16 essential days of good weather, but I would not change it after ALL! I had to be really open to observe, experience and communicate with elements such as waves, streams, winds, in conditions that where pulling me to survival mode! Exactly opposite to where I wanted to be ... And what happened was that I reached this blissful in-tune moments, to be first of all in experience mode and be inspired, like in the middle of the Adriatic, above the deepest part of this big bay, in a very deep way. If you feel blessed at the end, then EVERYTHING had meaning ... That is how the life should be ... Ready for next passage.

It took another night and day to reach the island of Šćedro - a small island along Hvar island. Nobody could expect that this small island under its "bigger brother" could be an entire world of its own! I keep coming back to understand more about these two close, and yet so different individuals-islands. “Yes, it is like this,” I heard a whisper, “because these two islands grew up long ago in different evolution times, when dragons were the most active.” Which one is older? “It does not matter, all is also now.”

Why do I write all this?

This time, it all started in Ancona on the way to Greece by ferry with Iva. We had time almost all day, and I went "for a walk" alone and with an open heart. The first encounter was with a refugee from Sri Lanka, and when I sat on the bench next to him to eat, I offered him some food. I saw him as a person in trouble. He refused to take any food, and in short conversation he convinced me that he is not in a bad situation at all! He sees opportunities, knowing where and how to go to continue his life, and he is also in contact with his family!

I went on towards my destination, an old big palm tree in the middle of the town ... A friend. I could not find her ... I circled persistently around the area. Finally, I came to the "no tree any more" place, just a tree stump! WHY? Last time, it looked heathy, strong, biggest among many in the park, which were still there. For me, this palm tree was playing an important role as a pilar of vital connections and interactions blessing and interacting with Ancona. I stayed there for a while, and slowly, the palm tree appeared to be still there! Still existing on a nonphysical level, but actively present ... Still living. This is beyond imagination, but to grasp some of this, I had to open my heart very much, and this kept me going. Focused, peaceful observation, as well as acceptance of the adventures that come my way, being aware that I am doing my best, gave me a very special experience that I love to share with you, straight into the universe. THANK YOU ALL!

Zlatka grew up in Slovenia, but "I was hitchhiking from Chania to Kissamos. It was 1985 or 1986. So somebody stopped, and it was him." After 35 years, many of which alone, she is still an olive grower and producer of very high quality olive oil. She takes care of 800 trees and a small farm around her house.

"You don't need a lot of machines and you don't need a lot of olive trees. You don't need to go for quantity, but rather for quality. Then, you have to find the market and sell it. There are a lot of olive trees here, a lot of oil, and it is sold very cheaply. People can not deal with life. It's a shame!"

The backyard of and for Zlatka are inspiring nature points. Waking around, visiting places, valleys, trees, rocks, beaches is an essential part of her life. Zlatka also showed us around, and gave us the possibility to fall in love with Crete very quickly!

Be ready to act 

"The nature is so rich, the climate is so mild. It's nice to be here."

Be ready to act 

"Crete is becoming more like Africa, warmer, with less water and more intensive rain. All this impacts olive growers. We need help and advice. We know that this change will be more intensive in Crete than in the north. Northern climate will become more hospitable for olives than our climate. There is a problem. People will start to grow olive trees in northern parts. Because they have colder winters needed by olive trees to bloom, and less hot or dry summers."

"The biggest problem is the way they cultivate olives here. They use a lot of pesticides … 

More and more people think that we need to protect the nature on which we depend. They try to find the way to produce in a more organic way. It is not easy here. As I mentioned, I have olives at nine places. Some places have nine trees, some maybe hundred, so you don't have an ecological environment to protect them. Its not easy because many don't want to cooperate."

An estimated 33 Mio olive trees live on Crete! And the number continues to grow. It is a monoculture!  Carob and Chestnut trees that saved them from hunger in WWII are now almost extinct.

What we need from science is that it shows us how to reduce the impact of climate change on olive growth. How to use water. They know about the weather. They know when the weather will change. They should advise us on when we should react so that we are not too late or too early.

We need to be ready all the time. Be ready to act.